Yarn winding apparatus



Sept. 3, 1940.

w. H. KIMPTON YARN WINDING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l MPTON W H K IN Sept. 3, 1940. w. H KIMPTQN 2,213,280

YARN WINDING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \Al- H-KIMPTON )NVEHToR A TIORNE Ys Patented Sept. 3, 1940 UNITED STATES 2,213,280 YARN WINDING APPARATUS William Harry Kimpton, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application December 14, 1938, Serial No. 245,641 g In Great Britain January 4, i938 4Claims. The invention relates to yarn-winding apparatus in which completed pirns, cops, spools or like packages (hereinafter referred to for brevity as pirns) are automatically dofied from a machine. and empty package supports (tubes) are automatically donned for the winding of new pirns to continue.

U. S. application S. No. 140,630, filed May 4. 1937, describes a pirn winding machine which comprises a Winding spindle from which a filled pirn tube is automatically doffed, and means for wrapping on the stationary spindle turns of yarn extending from the supply to the completed pirn, so that as an empty tube is automatically donned, the turns of yarn are trapped between the spindle and the tube. Several dofllng and donning devices may be served, by a common controlling mechanism to deal with a corresponding number of spindles. The machine incorporates means for automatically coupling the controlling mechanism with a source of power when all the spindles of a set have come to rest on completion of a winding operation, and for restarting the winding spindles and uncoupling of the drive of the controlling mechanism after it has completed the dofling and donning operation.

U. S. application S. No. 176,006, filed November 23, 1937, describes a similar doffing and donning mechanism operating in conjunction with a counting device adapted to render the dofiing and donning mechanism inoperative after the winding of a predetermined number of pirns, e. g., the number of full pirns that can be wound from the particular size of supply bobbin used with the pim winding apparatus. The counting device releases a spring-pulled member connected to clutch-controlling means to render the clutch for the doffing and donning mechanism inoperative.

In the forms of apparatus particularly described and illustrated in the prior specifications, common controlling mechanism serves the dofling and donning mechanism of a pair of spindles. The controlling mechanism is adapted to be driven by a'clutch device which includes a rotatable driving disc co-operating with a movable dog attached to the controlling mechanism in close proximity to the disc. When pirns wound in the machine are completed and ready to be doifed, the starting rod in connection with each spindle rotates under the influence of the stop mechanism and, in addition to stopping its own winding spindle, each rod causes an associated lever to be moved to free a latch with tioned means, for example one of the plurality of which the-levers contact. The freeing of the latch byboth levers frees in turn a catch which thereupon locks the dog with the driving disc andthus establishes the drive to the dofling and donning mechanism. The starting rods may. 5

however, free a bar which thereupon moves the latch out of engagement with the catch. After new pim tubes have been donned the spindlestarting rods are rotated by the controlling mechanism in the reverse direction to restart m the spindles, such movement of the mechanism" also bringing about the movement of the latch into catch-restraining position in order to free the dog from engagement with the disc and thereby to uncouple the drive to the dofiing and 15 donning mechanism.

The pim-winding apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of pirnwinding spindles each with its own starting and stopping device, a common control mechanism for the dofling and donning mechanism, a clutch for the controlling mechanism. a spring-urged catch tending to throw in the clutch, a e-atoncontrolling latch, a locking member to; the catch, and a detecting member under the ceptrol 25 of all the stopping and starting devicestand adapted when winding has ceased at all spindles to free the locking member and the latch, so as to permit the catch to throw in the clutch for operation of the dofling and donning mechanism by the common controlling mechanism. The detector member is adapted to be moved by the controlling mechanism, on completion of doifing and donning, to restart the winding spindles and bring the locking member again 35 into catch-restraining position.

The apparatus according .to the invention. enables a single controlling mechanism to be simply applied for the control of dofilng and donning of a plurality of spindles by the provision of a detector member, e. g. a rocking shaft connected, for example, by a plurality of levers to the starting and stopping rods of the several spindles and having appropriately posilevers, to govern the locking member that re- 45 strains the latch of the controlling mechanism.

Thus, although a common form of pirn winding 'machine comprises an assembly of gear boxes from the ends of which pairs of spindles project, 0 the invention provides for the control by a single mechanism of the spindles of adjacent boxes, so that a small number of control units suflices for any given assembly of gear boxes. For example with five gear boxes disposed side by side so that chine, two controlling mechanisms may be em-' ployed, each of their detector members being connected to thestarting rods of five 'spindles.

The invention, as applied to such a set of five spindles, will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, showing the disposition of the dofiing and donning mechanism in relation to the pirn-winding mechanism; and r Fig. 2 is a rear elevation, partly of a diagrammatic character, taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1.

The controlling mechanism as well as the actual dofiing and donning devices used for the indidetailed mechanism of these prior specifications, as is necessary for an understanding of the invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, one of the pirn winding spindles I is shown driven from the usual gear box 2. The dofiing and donning mechanism lies in front of the box 2 and at a lower level is common control mechanism for the five spindles I,

as will be more readilyseen in Fig. 2. The function of the common control mechanism is to doff a completed pirn from a spindle I by means of a doffer 3, transfer an empty tube from the magazine 4 by means of a carriage 5 into line with the empty spindle I .and don the tube by means of the donner 6. These operations are effected for all five spindles from the mechanism 1, set into operation by the clutch 8 in the manner fully described in U. S. application S. No. 140,630. The drum cam 9 in the mechanism 1 operates through lever and sprocket and chain mechanism to drive pinions I and II which in turn drive the dofiing and donning racks I2v and I3 upon operation of which, on the one hand, the completed pirn is removed from the spindle I by the doffer 3 attached to the dofling rack I3, while on the other hand, an empty tube is transferred from the magazine 4 by means of a carriage 5 to a position co-axlal with the winding spindle I from whence it is carried into position on the empty spindle by the donner 5 attached to the donning rack I2. The carriage 5 is moved into position beneath-the magazine 4 by means of cam mechanism (not shown).

The clutch mechanism 8 is put into operation each time a pirn is completed until, after the winding of .a predetermined number of pirns from one supply package, a flexible chain I6 is released by the counting device I1. A new supply package then being provided, re-setting of the knob I 8 of the counting device pulls the chain I6 so that the clutch mechanism 8 is again enabled to operate after each pirn has been cornpleted. v

The five donning pinions III are mounted on a common shaft I9 and the five dofiing pinions II on a common shaft doffing and donning respectively of the five spindles I therefore take place simultaneously. Commencement of the donning and dofiing operation is controlled by' the usual starting and stopping rods 2| of the five spindles. For simplicity, the rods 2I are hereafter referred to as starting rods.

The feature of the present invention is that during winding at any one or more spindles the starting rod or rods 2I of the spindle or spindles prevent the operation of the common control mechanism I, but when, and only when, winding is completed at all the spindles I and all the starting rods 2I have thus moved as usual to stop position, is the common controlling mechanism 1 permitted to operate. For this purpose each starting rod 2| is provided with a lever 22 connected to a rod 22' passing at its lower end freely through a lever 24, the five levers 24 all being secured to a shaft, freely mounted in bearings 26. Below the levers 24"therods 22 are formed with abutments in the formof pairs of lock nuts 21 screwed on to-the reduced ends of the rods. As will be seen fromFig. 1, the levers 24, aided by a re-setting lever 28, tend to urge the shaft 25 in a counter-clockwise direction.

while winding is taking place on the spindles I, the rods 23 are in their uppermost position and the levers 24 rest on the lock nuts 21. In Fig. 2, only the central rod 23 is in its uppermost position. When, on completion of winding at any one spindle I, the starting rod 2i, by rotating under the influence of the usual spindle stop mechanism, permits the corresponding rod 23 to be lowered, the support of the lock nuts 21 is removed from the corresponding lever 24. It usually happens, however, that although winding commences simultaneously at all five spindles,

the five pirns are not completed simultaneously,

' Fig. 2 showing the'position reached when only one spindle (in this case, the central one) is continuing winding. It is therefore necessary to delay the dofiing and donning operation until winding has been completed at the last of the spindles, and it will be evident that with the arangement shown the shaft 25 cannot rock until the support of the lock nuts 21 has been removed at the last of the spindles to complete winding.

When this occurs the shaft 25 rocks by gravity and the clutch mechanism 8 is operated to set the common controlling mechanism into opera tion. For this purpose, one of the levers 24 (the I central lever 24 in Fig. 2) is caused to act as a detector member and is used to operate in conjunction with a locking member in the form of a bell-crank lever 29. The lower arm of the lever 29 bears on a latch 20 that is being urged upwardly by the resilient pull of the chain I6, and an extension of this lever 24 beyond the rod 23 bears against the upper arm of the lever 29, the extension serving as means to prevent freeing of the locking member except by rocking of the shaft 25. So long, however, as the lever 24 is retained in its upper position the lever 29 cannot be moved. When, however, the shaft 25 rocks, the restraint of the central'lever 24 is removed from the lever 29, and, the lever 29 being freed, the chain I6 carries the latch 30 upwardly clear of a spring-urged catch 3|, which, being free of the control of the latch 30, moves to the left and throws in the clutch 8 to allow the drum cam 9 to be driven, by the continually moving shaft 32 of the control mechanism 1. Dofilng and donning then take place at all the spindles I.

When the operation is completed, the cam 33 engages the lever 34 and through it raises the re setting lever 28, so rocking the shaft 25 to its original position, the levers 24 pressing against the shoulders 35 on the rods 23 and operating the starting rods 2I through the levers 22, and

the central lever 24 rocking the bell-crank lever 29 to depress the latch 30 against the pull of the chain I 6, so as to throw the clutch mechanism out of operation by the latch 30 engaging and restraining the catch 3|. The drum cam 9 then ceases to rotate.

The domng and donning operation continues at all five spindles until the predetermined numher of pirns have been wound from each of the supply packages. The counting device I! then releases the pull in the chain l6, so that notwithstanding freeing of the locking lever 29 (see particularly Fig. 2) by rocking'of the shaft the latch 30 retains control of the catch 3| and the clutch 8 cannot operate to put the dofling and donning mechanism into operation.

The mechanism comprising the five sets of elements 22, 23, the detect0r member comprising the common shaft and the levers 24, the lock nuts 21, and the locking lever 29 thus provides a complete control over the common controlling mech-' anism I and enables it to effect the dofling and donning at all five spindles, while still allowing each spindle to stop independently when its pirn is completed.

The profile of the re-setting cam 33 may be such as to permit the detector shaft 25 to rotate slightly in the reverse direction, after restarting of the winding spindles, so as to allow the levers 24 to lower themselves from the shoulder 35 on the rods 23 and rest on the nuts 21.

Adjustment is provided by the nuts 21, these being in accessible positions, to allow the pirnchanging mechanism to be readily applied to existing winding units and enable all the rods 23 to be adjusted to within fine limits to ensure accuracy of operation. The assembly of rods 23, detector shaft 25, and levers 24 is simple in character and therefore admits of robust construction and reliability in operation.

From the above description, it will be seen that after a set of completed pirns have been removed from the spindles I and empty tubes have been transferredfrom the magazine 4 to the spindles, winding is restarted and the detector mechanism re-s'et by the action of the cam 33 on the lever .34 which raises the re-setting lever "which in turn rocks the shaft 25 and causes the rods 23 to operate the starting rods 2| through the levers 22. Winding then continues until all the starting rods have again been operated by the usual stop mechanism, the common controlling mechanism being prevented from operating until the last of the rods 23 has been caused to drop to allow the shaft 25 to rock to free the catch 31 to throw in the clutch 8 as described above when the cycle of operations is repeated.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Pirn-winding apparatus of the type incorpo- 7 rating mechanism for automatically dofiing a completed pirn and donning an empty tube upon which the winding of a new pirn continues, said apparatus comprising a plurality of pirn winding control mechanism, a spring-urged catch tending to throw in the clutch, a catch-controlling latch tending to move out of catch-controlling position, a locking member for the latch and a detector member under the control of all the stopping and starting devices for detecting the cessation of winding when winding has ceased at all spindles andadapted then to allow the locking member to move to free the latch, so as to permit the catch to throw in the clutch for operation of the dofllng and donning mechanism by the common controlling mechanism.

2. Pirn-winding apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a detector member that consists of a rocking shaft and a plurality of levers, one for each spindle, and means on the shaft engaging the locking member, each of the levers being so controlled by the corresponding starting and stopping rod that so long as winding continues at any spindle rocking of the shaft is prevented and the locking member cannot be freed.

3. Pirn-winding apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a detector member that consists of a rocking shaft and a plurality of levers, one for each spindle, one of said levers engaging the locking member, and each of the levers being so controlled by the corresponding starting and stopping rod that so long as winding continues at any spindle. rocking of the shaft is prevented and the locking member cannot be freed.

4. Pirn-winding apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a detector member that consists of a rocking shaft and a plurality of levers, one for each spindle, means on the shaft engaging the locking member, each of the levers being so controlled by the corresponding starting and stopping rod that so long as winding continues at any spindle rocking of the shaft is prevented and the locking member cannot be freed, a re-setting lever on the rocking shaft, and a cam in the common controlling mechanism adapted to engage the re-settlng lever to rock the shaft and thereby to return the starting and stopping rods to starting position after completion of the domng and donning operation.

" WILLIAM HARRY HMPTON. 

